High amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA) showed increased risk for obesity in Children and Teens

(Best Syndication News) - A study found children and teens that had higher amounts of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in their urine were at an increased risk of being obese. The study results were reported in the September 19 issue of JAMA.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in many consumer products. It can be found in plastics and in the lining of cans. Over the last four years, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been investigating the safety of BPA. The FDA approved BPA in the 1960’s. Currently, the FDA says, “The scientific evidence at this time does not suggest that the very low levels of human exposure to BPA through the diet are unsafe.”

Leonardo Trasande, M.D., M.P.P., of the NYU School of Medicine, New York City, said that 92.6 percent of people over the age of six had detectable BPA levels in their urine, according to data collected in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES). Trasande continued to explain that exposure to BPA has been demonstrated to disrupt several metabolic systems in the body that might lead to an increased body mass.

In order to investigate if higher levels of BPA were associated with and increased likelihood of being obese, Dr. Trasande and his associates studied 2,838 participants in the 2003 – 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Particpants who were between 6 and 19 years old had their BMI measured. After that they were randomly picked to have their urinary BPA levels measured.

The researchers divided the BPA concentration levels into four groups. They then compared the body mass for each group and found that the group who had the lowest levels of BPA in their urine was at a 10.3 percent rate for obesity. Comparatively, the group with the highest levels of BPA in their urine had an obesity rate of 22.3 percent.

There seemed to be a pattern. From lowest to highest BPA levels, the obesity rates were: group 1 at 10.3 percent, group 2 at 20.1 percent, group 3 at 19 percent, and group 4 at 22.3 percent.

By: Marsha Quinn
Health Reporter

ref: JAMA. 2012;308[11]:1113-1121

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